1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel ion charging apparatus wherein ions are deflected over a predetermined area of a charge receptor in order to uniformly charge the charge receptor.
Charging uniformly is paramount as copy quality levels rise. Also, dirt generation in toner cloud based systems demand reduction in the effects of dirt on charging subsystems.
Corona charging of xerographic photoreceptors has been disclosed as early as U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,699. It has always been a problem that current levels for practical charging require coronode potentials of many thousands of volts, while photoreceptors typically cannot support more than 1000 volts surface potential without dielectric breakdown.
One attempt at controlling the uniformity and magnitude of corona charging is U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,957 which makes use of an open screen as a control electrode, to establish a reference potential, so that when the receiver surface reaches the screen voltage, the fields no longer drive ions to the receiver, but rather to the screen. Unfortunately, a low porosity screen intercepts most of the ions, allowing a very small percentage to reach the intended receiver. A more open screen, on the other hand, delivers charge to the receiver more efficiently, but compromises the control function of the device.
Other methods exist for trying to obtain uniform charging from negative charging systems such as dicorotron charging devices as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,650 that includes glass coated wires and large specialized AC power supplies. A simpler system involves a screened corotron (scorotron). However, these methods are well known for being inefficient charging units, requiring slower charging speeds, and providing marginal uniformity.
Various ion generating devices are available for printing or charging purposes. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,363 there is taught a D.C. air breakdown form of ion generator. In U.S. Pat No. 4,524,371 a fluid jet assisted ion projection printing apparatus is disclosed that includes a housing having ion generation and ion modulation regions. A bent path channel, disposed through the housing, directs transport fluids with ions entrained therein adjacent an array of modulation electrodes which control the passage of ion beams from the device. Emission of charged particles in U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,093 is accomplished by extracting them from a high density source provided by an electrical gas breakdown in an alternating electrical field between two conducting electrodes separated by an insulator. A corona discharge unit is used in conductive toner transfer in a copier in U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,170. The corona discharge unit includes a slit to permit transfer of conductive toner particles onto a copy paper charged by the corona unit. A corona wire in the unit is surrounded by a shield. U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,308 discloses a web treating device for generating a flow of ionized gas. This device includes an opening through which the gas is directed towards a receptor surface. An elongated hollow hosing 11 has tapered sides 14 terminating in a pair of lips 15 which form a narrow and elongated slot 16. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,598,991 and 4,100,411 show electrostatic charging devices including a corona wire surrounded by a conductive shield. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,991, a slit 13 is formed in the shield to allow ions to flow from wire 12 to a photoconductive surface 2 to deposit an electric charge thereon. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,411, a pair of lips 16 and 17 define a corona ion slit 18. Japanese Patent Document No. 55-73070 discloses a powder image transfer type electrostatic copier that includes a corona discharge device having a slit in a shield plate. In Japanese Patent Document No. 54-156546 a corona charge is shown having a plurality of grating electrodes in the opening part of a corona shield electrode. These devices have not been entirely satisfactory in that they are costly, some of them are hard to fabricate and most are inefficient.
Accordingly, a charging apparatus is provided for use in any of the various printing and imaging processes. The scanning ion charging apparatus of the present invention overcomes the above described problems and disadvantages of conventional charging devices.
Specifically, this invention provides a charging device that includes a charge stream dividing electrode positioned between a coronode and a charge receptor. The dividing electrode deflects ions generated by the coronode and causes the ion current to scan the surface of the charge receptor. The dividing electrode enables temporal and spatial averaging of the charge to thereby obtain charge uniformity.